Manhattan street named after U2

New York — This street does have a name — U2 Way.

To celebrate U2’s weeklong gig on CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman,” a block-long stretch of West 53rd Street was temporarily renamed after the veteran Irish rockers on Tuesday.

“Somewhere south of Duke Ellington Way and north of Joey Ramone Place we find ourselves,” said lead singer Bono. “And we’re the band where the streets have no name.”

The four band members joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in unveiling the “U2 Way” street sign on Broadway across West 53rd Street from the Ed Sullivan Theater, where Letterman’s show is taped.

Scores of fans cheered from behind police barricades as Bloomberg presented each U2 member with his own copy of the sign.

“Edge just said this is the first time he’s been seen with a street sign and not been arrested,” quipped Bono, referring to guitarist The Edge.

U2 is on “Letterman” all week to promote their new album, “No Line on the Horizon.”

Penn hopes fellow actor will honor Milk

San Francisco — Still fresh from winning the best-actor Oscar for playing gay rights hero Harvey Milk, Sean Penn expressed confidence Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would sign a bill officially recognizing Milk’s birthday in California even though he vetoed it last year.

Appearing at a news conference with the bill’s author, state Sen. Mark Leno, and several of Milk’s contemporaries who were featured in the movie “Milk,” Penn said he did not want to insult the intelligence of a fellow actor by expecting Schwarzenegger to veto the measure again.

“I would never assume such ignorance as for him to not have revised his (position),” Penn said, staring into a bank of TV cameras at a cafe that shares the name of Milk’s favorite opera, “Tosca.” “I have too much respect for him to be able to do that.”

Leno’s bill would require Schwarzenegger, who starred in the “Terminator” movies and other blockbusters, to establish May 22 of each year as a “day of significance.”

Milk was an outspoken gay rights advocate at a time when coming out carried substantial personal and professional risks. He was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by another city supervisor in 1978.

Stephen King’s agent pleased at e-book debut

Portland, Maine — It’s not the sensation of his first effort, but Stephen King’s latest e-adventure is another best-seller.

King’s agent, Ralph Vicinanza, said Tuesday that downloads of King’s novella “UR,” available only as an e-book and released to coincide with the launch of Amazon’s upgraded Kindle reader, have reached “five figures” after barely three weeks on the market.

In 2000, in the early years of digital texts, King’s novella “Riding the Bullet” was downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, overwhelming Amazon.com and other online sites.

Disney Channel enrolls ‘High School Musical 4’

Los Angeles — The Disney Channel is going back to school with “High School Musical 4.”

The fourth iteration of the popular musical franchise will begin production later this year and premiere in 2010.

The Disney Channel said in a statement Tuesday that the new movie will introduce a new cast of characters and will focus on a cross-town school rivalry.

Cosmo bestows Fun Fearless awards

Beverly Hills, Calif. — Aaron Eckhart, Blair Underwood, Mario Lopez and Ali Larter were among the stars honored with Cosmopolitan magazine’s Fun Fearless Awards.

The awards, which recognize entertainers for their bold career choices and Cosmo-size confidence, were presented at a dinner ceremony Monday.

Eckhart, Underwood and Lopez were named Fun Fearless Males of 2009, along with NBC executive Ben Silverman, musicians Timbaland and Adam Levine, and actors Bradley Cooper, Rainn Wilson and Chace Crawford.

Larter was the year’s Fun Fearless Female.

Maria Menounos of “Access Hollywood” presented the awards in traditional Hollywood style, introducing clips of each winner’s work before welcoming them to the stage.

“It’s great to be honored for anything at all,” Wilson said before the program. “I mean, a few years ago, I was driving a moving van.”

Cosmopolitan magazine has presented its Fun Fearless honors for more than a decade.

University launches M.A. on the Beatles

London — The city of Liverpool already has a Beatles museum and its airport is named after John Lennon. Now a local university says it rolling out a graduate program entirely devoted to the Fab Four.

Liverpool Hope University said Tuesday that its new master’s program, “The Beatles, Popular Music and Society,” would give students the opportunity to analyze music and culture through the band’s work.

“There have been over 8,000 books about the Beatles but there has never been serious academic study and that is what we are going to address,” said Mike Brocken, who is directing the program at the university, which is in the band’s hometown in northwestern England.

Brocken said students would be expected to study the Beatles’ songs, stardom, hometown and cultural impact through four 12-week courses and a dissertation.